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"I thought it ht be ti’s done…"
Moongirl meets his eyes
"…who leaves here and how?" he finishes
"Me," she says "And you Together"
He thinks shedown on flat white sand," she says "All that heat"
He watches her for a while as she blows on her wet nails Then he asks, "Have you fed her?"
"It’s a waste of food now"
"We ood shape"
"Why?"
"Show and tell He’ll want to see her"
"To lure hiet up
She says, "When rass once azes at the sea, which is now so sun-silvered that it appears to be almost white
He can’t locate either the northbound or the southbound ship Perhaps they are hidden in the solar glare
Chapter 26
The Land Rover left while A the meadow Later, when she drove to the south-county animal shelter to keep an appointment, no one followed her
"What was that about?" she asked the dogs, but they had no idea
At the shelter, she locked her kids in the Expedition, leaving four n a couple of inches for air circulation
Neither Fred nor Ethel, nor Nickie, expressed any desire to accompany her They knehat kind of place this was All three were subdued
Her accountant, Danielle Chiboku, also a Golden Heart volunteer, waited for her in the dreary reception area
"You bought that rescue last night for two thousand bucks?" Dani asked first thing
"Kind of, sort of, if you want to see it that way, I guess you could sayto do with you?" Dani asked
"Gee, Mouess you’ll have to send hten me out"
"If I were your mother, you’d know the value of a dollar"
"You’re only five years older than I am You couldn’t be my mom You could be my stepmother if you married my father"
"Amy-"
"But since I’ve never knoho my father was, I’m not able to introduce you Anyway, the two thousand bucks wasn’t Golden Heart’s anization doesn’t quite raise enough donations to cover its work, you make up the difference"
"I always expect Batman, in his Bruce Wayne identity, to write h"
"If you keep this up, you’ll be broke in five years"
"You’re my accountant You can’t let that happen Put me in some investment with a two-hundred-percent return"
"I’m dead serious, A could happen in five years The dogs need me now Did I ever tell you how e the subject Audrey Hepburn wasn’t half Japanese and half Norwegian"
"How did your parents ris and love at first sight? Hey, did Mookie meet with Janet Brockman yet?"
Mukai Chiboku-Mookie to his friends-was Dani’s husband and Golden Heart’s attorney
"He’s going to handle her divorce pro bono," Dani said "The little boy and girl half broke his heart"
Mookie, specializing in real-estate law, had offices in a plain two-story building in Corona del Mar Few passersby would is exceeded a billion dollars
Dogs elcoolden, Baiko, who had been nareeted Fred and Ethel by exclai "Sweet babies!"
"You ready for this?" Amy asked
"No"
"Me neither"
The shelter workers knew them well She and Dani walked this facility at least once a week
An animal-control officer named Luther Osteen led them out of reception, past the shelter offices, into the kennels at the back of the building
Ses flanked a concrete run, and all of theer animals were housed one to a space Soe
A feere so depressed, they lay staring at nothing, and did not raise their heads
Most caes Soed their tails and sees barked, but most of the inmates were quiet, as if aware that their fate-adoption or death-depended in part on their demeanor
The majority werehere was beautiful, each in its oay, and the clock was running out for all of thes far exceeded the resources of all the rescue groups cole breed
The shelter worked hard to place the mixed breeds, the mutts Yet thousands every year would have to be euthanized
A, but raising their hopes would have been cruel, and leaving the their acquaintance would have devastated her
Luther Osteen had two dogs for their consideration, the first a pure golden nairl, nine years old, her face e
Mandy’s owners had retired They wanted to spend a few years traveling through Europe Mandy no longer fit their lifestyle
"She’s got some arthritis," Luther said, "and her teeth haven’t been so well cared for, but she has a few good years in her yet Hard for us to place an older dog like her She’s probably given back ten tiht if she had a chance to be with soive her a better deal"
"We’ll take her," Dani said
The second orphan was aelse not easily identified, perhaps Australian shepherd He’d been running loose in an industrial park, wearing a collar with no license
"Looks like he was abandoned there," Luther said, " for hi stood at the cage door, pressing its black nose through a gap in the wire grid
"How old, you think?" Dani asked
"Figure he’s maybe three or four years No obvious disease"
"Fixed?" Aot so forever hoh The mixed breeds were more difficult to place
The tail moved continuously The ears were raised The brown eyes pleaded
"The boy’s housebroken," Luther said, "and he knows so had so made him easier to place, so with relief, Ao deal with the paperwork," Luther said "I’ll bring the the kennel run, between the rows of cages, Dani took Amy’s hand She always did Her eyes were full of unshed tears, which A in past all these dogs, h walk, but the return trip, leaving them to their fate, was brutal
Sometimes, Amy despaired for the human race, and never more so than on those days when she visited the county shelter
Soht to their own final hours, when they rant them the mercy that they withheld from those who trusted them
Chapter 27
Harrow makes a ham-and-cheese sandwich, adds teet pickles to the plate, and puts the plate on a tray with a container of deli potato salad He adds two lunchbox bags of potato chips and a se Farm cookies She likes root beer, so he puts two cold cans on the tray
Just as he finishes, Moongirl enters the kitchen She has dressed in black slacks and a black sweater She still wears the diaave her, but the dia the laden tray, she says, "I would’ve done this"
"Saved you the trouble"
Her green gaze is as sharp as a broken bottle "Always doing things for me"
He knows this ell He has walked it with her s for me"